This movie is entirely wrong about autism. I work with autistic youths on a regular basis; if she is autistic, she is also physically and mentally retarded, and may also have Tourette's Syndrome.
Autism is a disorder that does not change your appearance: most people diagnosed with autism look, in essence, exactly like the rest of us. Sue has severe facial distortion, and this is not usual in the standard autistic person.
Autism does not cause you to "do terrible, terrible things": the way she describes some of her behaviors make them sound more like Tourette's Syndrome (which, to those who don't know, does not just cause obscene language: it can cause a number of things)
Meanwhile, if she IS autistic, she's following for the oldest trick in the book. The electronic- vocalizer. Look at it again; notice how the "caregiver" moves the machine? The child doesn't really choose what they're hitting, they're just moving their finger forward. The caregiver just makes the child "say" whatever will make the most money.
I feel like this documentary is off on all counts of autism, and in order to define symptoms better CNN should not have used someone with multiple disorders. In the end, it leaves one misled about the symptoms of autism.
Thumbs-down.
Autism is a disorder that does not change your appearance: most people diagnosed with autism look, in essence, exactly like the rest of us. Sue has severe facial distortion, and this is not usual in the standard autistic person.
Autism does not cause you to "do terrible, terrible things": the way she describes some of her behaviors make them sound more like Tourette's Syndrome (which, to those who don't know, does not just cause obscene language: it can cause a number of things)
Meanwhile, if she IS autistic, she's following for the oldest trick in the book. The electronic- vocalizer. Look at it again; notice how the "caregiver" moves the machine? The child doesn't really choose what they're hitting, they're just moving their finger forward. The caregiver just makes the child "say" whatever will make the most money.
I feel like this documentary is off on all counts of autism, and in order to define symptoms better CNN should not have used someone with multiple disorders. In the end, it leaves one misled about the symptoms of autism.
Thumbs-down.